Deputy Víctor Suárez (PLD-Santiago) in a letter to the president of the Chamber of Deputies Rubén Maldonado criticized that the legislators received vouchers for a total of RD$57 million to distribute at their discretion on occasion of Mother’s Day in the Dominican Republic that fell on Sunday, 27 May 2018.
Several legislators answered back. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rubén Maldonado (PLD-Santo Domingo) earlier had said a tender was held to choose the company for the vouchers that the beneficiaries can use to shop for electrical appliances and other items. He said this is a 25-year old practice in the Chamber of Deputies. He said under his presidency, the gifts fund were reduced by 65% the so called social fund in order to use the savings for the remodeling of the Chamber of Deputies. The funds would be delivered by the legislators and members of the Presidency in the different municipalities. Maldonado speculated Suárez’s vocal criticism is due that the stipend was reduced by 56% and was not distributed in cash. He said that last year the deputies received RD$730,000 in cash for the Mother’s Day activities.
Maldonado said the allotment was only rejected by deputy Fidelio Despradel. Despradel, of the Alianza Pais opposition party said that the PLD is responsible “for institucionalizing and modernizing the system of privileges and patronage instated in the National Congress.” Despradel is the only deputy that has rejected the regular slush fund (el barrilito) and other benefits such as the Mother’s Day and Christmas funds.
Another critic of the legislator’s position and defender of the vouchers, Orlando Espinosa (PLD-San Cristóbal), said that instead of criticizing the Mother’s Day bonds, Súarez should return the four months of wages he had received while traveling abroad. Fellow legislators also criticized the many absenses of Suárez from his legislative work in Congress.
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Listin Diario
28 May 2018
